


The Theory of Amplification

by swooning



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2015-04-07
Packaged: 2018-03-21 19:27:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3703033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swooning/pseuds/swooning
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Helen has all the time in the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Theory of Amplification

Will couldn't remember how they'd arrived at the subject of Tesla. It was not a subject he felt all that comfortable with, and the same could be said of his feelings regarding the mad scientist himself.

"I think you're safe enough," Magnus reassured him. "I don't think you're really his type."

"Not to be vulgar, but...well, okay, I guess I'll just be vulgar. I thought his type is anything that has an orifice and can't outrun him."

Magnus guffawed, an ungainly sound from a woman who was looking her most elegant at that particular moment. The midnight blue velvet gown swirled playfully around her silver pumps, and Will caught a delicious hint of her fragrance when she leaned past him to look in the mirror. Adjusting an earring, she grinned and shook her head. 

"He'd like people to think so, I'm sure. But no, it's more complicated, and I'm surprised you of all people haven't caught on."

Intrigued as always - he was good, he knew, but Magnus had just been around so damn long she often saw patterns he couldn't - Will cocked an eyebrow at her reflection. "Enlighten me?"

"Will, do you need help with those?" She gestured at the cufflinks he was struggling to fasten, and he gladly handed over the task as she enlightened him. "Nikola is a fetishist. He's obsessed with something very rare, and very dangerous. Quite simply, he always wants something or someone more powerful than he is. And as you know, that's a fairly short list, though if you tell him I said so I will have to hurt you."

"Duly noted."

"He craves power of any kind, he wallows in it. Physical, emotional, symbolic. Doesn't matter. He's constantly searching for some infinite source of energy, and as soon as he finds a candidate he tests it by attempting to suck the essence right out of it. Not many things will survive that treatment, and therein lies his eternal dilemma."

"Which is why he wants you."

"I do make a more convenient dinner partner than a huge jolt of electricity. And I'm usually, though not always, less painful."

Will laughed easily and Magnus joined in, letting his sleeve go after she finished attaching the link. He lifted the other one for her attentions, and she set to affixing the tricky fastening with the same look of intense concentration that she often wore while hard at work. 

"Now that you've said it, it makes perfect sense."

"It's his fundamental characteristic," she agreed. "And it fits in nicely with my theory, too."

"Theory about what? Can you do the tie, too? I always get it lopsided." He held out the length of black silk with a sheepish smile. She took it, not as exasperated as she let on. 

"You're really quite hopeless. But it's well worth it. Men always look so dashing in tuxedos. I'm glad we decided on black tie. My theory about our powers. The five of us, I mean. I've had a lot of time to think about it, of course. And I've come to the conclusion that in each of us, the source blood merely amplified some pre-existing characteristic or predilection."

"So Tesla's was his obsession with energy," Will said, reasoning along with her, "and with finding a power source he could never drain. So he got to be a shocky vampire. Okay, I can see that. Watson was smart and he got smarter."

"James wasn't just smart, even to begin with. He astonished us all, and the rest of us were by no means lacking in cognitive ability. But James's real strength was in seeing connections that nobody else saw. And after the source blood...it was as if he could find a link between any two things on the earth. He could grasp all of it at once. He could hold and compare more things in his head at one time than any human being in history."

Will nodded. "Preternatural lateral thinking. It would be nice to have. So then I guess Griffin wanted to be invisible?"

Magnus smiled. "Yes and no. He wanted the ability to go unobserved. He liked to be that generic face, the person nobody noticed, because that gave him so much freedom to watch people. Of the five of us, he was the one most comfortable being in the background. But there's a lot you can observe when nobody notices you're there. That was his strength. He just got more of it than he ever bargained for. There, that looks even." She gave the tie a final tweak and stepped back to admire her handiwork. 

"And Druitt?"

She looked thoughtful. "He comes out of nowhere, striking without warning. Then he vanishes into thin air, leaving you to wonder if you imagined the whole thing. Except for the bloody proof in front of you."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"I think in modern terms, you'd just call it a fear of commitment," she said wryly. "A pathological fear of commitment. Although I admit I may be projecting. I know my objectivity is suspect when it comes to John."

"He's 'random acts of violence,' personified," Will suggested.

"He is that."

"But you'll still dance with him if he shows up tonight."

"I wouldn't doubt it. Though it's unlikely he'll show up. He was never one for parties."

"Even at New Year's?"

She shrugged, and Will couldn't help but admire the smooth play of her shoulder muscles, revealed by the narrow straps of the dress. 

"Sorry, by the way," he said, looking away to hide the fact that he was flustered. "You came up here to tell me something, and instead I ended up letting you be my valet."

Her laugh was delicate, silvery, not unlike the fine filigree that graced her ears and neck. "I didn't mind. It was nothing important, really. I just wanted to let you know that the heating in the lab seems to be on the fritz yet again. If you have occasion to be down there tomorrow before the Big Guy gets a chance to look into it, you may want to bundle up."

"Good to know. Thanks," he said. He shrugged into his tux jacket, settling the fine wool over his shoulders and giving himself a final check in the mirror. When he spoke, he sounded casual. As though it were an afterthought, instead of the question burning in his mind. "So what about you, Magnus? Your superpower is the longest case of chronic insomnia in the history of the world, right?"

"Right," she said, taking his arm as he offered it to lead her down to the festivities. "Will, you know better than that. That's just an unfortunate side effect. No, my downfall was time. I always felt like I could never get enough time to learn things, find out more, study everything as thoroughly as possible. With all there was to know about the world, how would I ever learn it all? How would I ever prioritize?"

He could hear the sadness, though most people wouldn't have caught it under her light, self-deprecating tone. "Your downfall?"

Magnus looked at him and saw that he could see through her. Letting a rare flash of regret show on her ageless face, she patted his arm fondly as they started down the stairs. "I'm embarrassed to admit how many years it took me to learn what I needed to, Will. That we can't learn everything. And we aren't meant to. I no longer want that. I have had all the novelty I could ever have hoped for. Yet I still have all the time in the world." Her laugh had a shade of bitterness, something Will hadn't heard often from Magnus. 

Just at the foot of the stairs, she withdrew her arm from his and pulled away a little, letting her hand linger just a little longer before it fell to her side. 

"You look very handsome," she said wistfully, turning toward the rising sounds of merriment that drifted down the hall. "You should be careful what you wish for. It's a cliche, but it's true."

"Helen?" His voice was full of concern. Sweet. Touching. And young, so very young.

She shook her head, not meeting his eyes. "I'm getting maudlin already and I haven't even had my first glass of champagne. This doesn't bode well."

"You look breathtaking," Will offered, knowing it wasn't enough. 

But it did earn an appreciative smile. One that even reached her eyes, which he noticed seemed particularly blue tonight. 

"Thank you, Will." 

A burst of raucous laughter drew their attention, and Magnus nodded her head in that direction.

"They've started without us."

Will grinned. "Party doesn't start until you're there, Magnus."

He adored the way her face lit up when she really smiled. As mischievous as it was sexy. She was the most attractive woman he had ever met, and it still surprised him every time he was reminded of that, caught off guard by a grin or a profile or a pair of feet in unexpectedly high heels. Will thought, as always - and pushed the thought firmly back down, as always - that she must be amazing in bed. Not his job, he knew, to think about things like that. Still, he kept right on thinking them. 

"Let's go swing from some chandeliers, then."

"Don't forget to wear a lamp shade like a hat while you dance on the table." He offered his arm again, holding it out with an expectant look. Finally, with a sigh, she took it and they continued down the hall. 

"Promise you'll get me out of there if I go all depressive and weepy, won't you?"

He nodded and pulled her hand a little further over his arm, telling himself it was just for moral support. "I got your back, Magnus."

"I know you do."

"And hey, remember, it's about to be a whole new year," he pointed out, holding the door for her with a grin that rivaled her own for cheeky sex appeal. "Haven't you learned that yet? Next year, anything can happen. And next year starts tonight."

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted at sanctuaryfiction.net


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